


It's an Emergency

by Quilly_Glitterpillar



Category: Puyo Puyo
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Lucid Dreaming, Sick Fic, tetris - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-13 21:26:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13579248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quilly_Glitterpillar/pseuds/Quilly_Glitterpillar
Summary: Just because you're sick, doesn't means you can't help out a friend.Likewise, just because your friend is sick, doesn't means he can slack off important Keeper work...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okaaaaay I know the idea to broship Lemres and Ex sounds a little weird in theory but hear me out......
> 
> .................
> 
> ......Uh. My excuse is that Ex is my fave, Lemres is my sibling/good friend's fave and we started to broship them. Yeah that's all LOL
> 
> But yeah, if you don't mind weird brotps, hope you will enjoy this~!

Sniffle. Coughing. It had been like that for a while now. Maybe staying up for nights and eating ice cream regularly was a bad idea. After Lemres walked away from the portal, he pulled out a tissue from a pocket and blew his nose - not that it would make much of a difference, soon his nose would be a runny mess again. 

His hat shook lightly with the slight wind in the edge of time and space. It was a ‘visit the Keeper of Dimensions’ day, but today, it was a few not so happy twists. One was the fact Lemres was sick with a cold. By now he could stand up and do things, which was related to another special reason he had come over, but the sickness still got to him every now and then. Sometimes he just had to sit up and rest a little before doing anything else.

Even in his illness, he knew he had to hurry to reach Ex’s house, for all the reasons. Ecolo and that weird winged guy, Satan, were able to make a portal close to where the Keeper lived, at least. It wouldn’t take long for him to arrive. Lemres wondered how the Dimensions were holding up now, considering that recent events prevented Ex from doing his job. Maybe the new wind was related to this? He hoped to be wrong, though.

Reaching the Keeper’s house, Lemres knocked on door. He waited, no response. He knocked two more times, then he heard something from inside. It was Ex’s muffled voice, but it was hard to make out what exactly he was saying. Having no idea what to do, Lemres just pushed the door and slowly walked in. The house was quiet, a bit tidy, actually. Despite everything, seems like Ex was still cleaning the place the best he could.

“E~x~? Heeeeeello?” Lemres cried out, shouting the loudest his sore throat could allow. He gazed around the living room, then popped his head over the kitchen. There was no sight of Ex anywhere. 

He was about to yell out again, as a silence filled the entire house, when a familiar but weak voice called away. “In my room. Come in...”

Nodding to himself, Lemres followed the voice. By now, he knew all places of this house by heart. And more important, he knew Ex well. The Keeper is diligent and strong, even in the most depressed days. If something bummed him down like that, it was serious. 

He didn’t waste any time to arrive in Ex’s bedroom, the door just a bit open. Gently, Lemres pushed the door and walked in, a small shocked expression grew over his face as he faced the room. The bedroom was a huge mess, compared to the other places in the house. Dirty clothes all over the floor, a garbage bin filled with used tissues to the point it didn’t had more space, a fallen blanket abandoned near the bed’s foot. 

Ex himself didn’t look his best either. Like Lemres, he had caught a cold, but his cold was much stronger, to the point it got him bedridden. This, coming from a person that is usually healthy and does his hardest to stay like so. This illness really was an intense one, the warlock thought. 

Quietly, a bit of a worried frown appearing, Lemres sat over the bed, near Ex. “Hey… How are you feelin’?”

“I could be better.” Ex whispered, sounding sluggish and weak. His hair was messier than usual and he had bangs over his eyes. “I’m sorry for the mess here. Cleaning has been hard lately.” 

“Aw, come on. Cleanin’ is a pain, and ya should be restin’ now.” Lemres added, putting his wand down on the bed. Then, one of his hands reached to pull out the other hand’s glove, so he could use the gloveless hand to feel Ex’s forehead. Not the best way to measure a fever, of course, but it would give Lemres an idea of how bad the sickness was. And to his growing worry, Ex seemed to have a bit of a strong fever too. “Are you takin’ your medication? Eatin’ well?”

“Yes. I try to, at least.” Ex replied, raising a hand to point at a nightstand near the bed. A small collection of remedies was resting here: for fever, cough pills, a nose spray.

Lemres nodded, pulling off his hand and putting the glove on it again. “Guess givin’ you candy isn’t an option now.” He concluded, with a slight joking tone. “Can I get ya anythin', though? Or clean this place for you?”

“Goodness, it’s okay. I will clean it myself when the fever medication starts to kick in.” Ex quickly spoke. Yes, he had sent Lemres a message asking for help because he was sick, but the last thing he wanted was to overwhelm his friend with things to do. 

However, Lemres shook his head. “You aren’t leavin’ this bed, young man. Anything ya need, I will get it for you. Just name it.” He spoke, trying to make his voice sound dad-like. It was funny to him, to be a dad for once. 

Ex blinked in response, surprised at Lemres’ reaction. Likewise, it was funny to him to be in the other side, considering he’s usually a father figure - or even a grandfather figure. “I guess I could use some tea. I wanna nap but I don’t feel sleepy enough.”

“I ~g~o~t you~” Lemres hummed and bounced off the bed, pulling his wand closer as he did so. And his humming didn’t cease as he walked out of the room, making his way to the kitchen. He heard a weak chuckle from Ex as he left the room. He imagined, a reason why Lemres was called for help instead of Tee or Amitie or anyone else was from how jolly but gentle the warlock could be. It was just what Ex needed now. 

Now that he was alone again, Lemres noticed his runny nose. He sniffed, but didn’t let this stop him from walking and arriving in the kitchen. His own sickness would be an obstacle to help Ex out, but he was gonna do his best to not let this slow him down too much. 

He filled the silence of the house with a little song he sang for himself as he opened cabinets, picked some chamomile tea up and prepared a cup to fill with water and warm it up. In just a few minutes, Lemres was done with the warm water, just splashing the tea bag into the cup. The tea was almost ready, but then he recalled an important detail: the tea would be much tastier with sugar!

Holding up his wand, making a few gentle spinning moves, a small flash sparked from the tip of the wand and dropped the newly created sugar into the cup. Still using his wand, he used a spell to stir the tea with a slight telekinesis. While Lemres prefered to not use magic to cook, he knew that Ex doesn’t keeps much sugar at home, plus he didn’t wanted to take too long with this.

Yes, he shouldn’t…. take long… Sniff. Oh, he felt his runny nose scratching. He shakely interrupted his magic, raising a hand to cover his nose and mouth. The last thing he wanted was to sneeze on Ex’s tea now. Even with the hand covering part of his face, Lemres’ sneeze was still quite loud, as afterwards, he could hear Ex’s faint voice saying ‘bless you!’ 

Chuckling a bit, Lemres took a final look at the cup. Seems to be good enough. But before returning to the bedroom, he picked the tissue of before and strongly blew his nose again. After storing it in his pocket again and taking the cup with him to Ex’s room, he made a mental note to perhaps ask Ex if he had any orange juice. For both of them.

Lemres stretched his free arm to knock on the door to announce his return. It brought him a bit of joy to see a tiny smile appeared on his sick friend’s face as he walked into the door and handed him the cup. “If it needs more sugar, I can add more right now!” Lemres added, shaking his wand lightly.

“Thanks.” Was all Ex said before taking a long sip of the tea. He didn’t really care about sugar, all he wanted was help to sleep. The room was silent, with Lemres carefully cleaning some messy spots while Ex kept drinking the tea. 

In some point, the now sleepy Keeper asked Lemres to stop, as he still felt bad about not cleaning himself. Lemres didn’t mind, the room looked a bit better now: he had taken the blanket off the floor and folded it nicely, as well emptied the garbage bin, ready for more tissues. The only thing is that as a side effect from his own sickness, he started to feel drowsy.

Ex placed the empty cup on his nightstand and laid down on his big bed. “I think I’m good to sleep now. Thank you again for the tea.”

“No problem~!” Lemres happily replied as he sat on the bed to look at Ex and give him gentle caressings in the head to help him fall asleep faster. As he did that, however, he noticed how soft the bed was. It was tempting to just lay down here too and nap a bit, but he’s a guest. If anything, he would go to the living room and nap on the couch, cuddling one of Ex’s pillows. 

“Lemres…?” Ex very sleepily muttered, he was already curled up and cozy in his bed. It wouldn’t take long for him to fall asleep now, thanks to the tea. “Are you sick too?”

Pause. Lemres was afraid of admitting his illness and making Ex get worried about his sake. Or worse, feeling guilty that he asked for help. But lying would be worse. His sneezes and runny nose gave it away, anyway. He just sighed. “Well… yeah, a bit. I am doing better now though! If I was feelin’ so bad, I wouldn’t have come over.”

Ex slowly nodded, his eyes heavy. It was hard to him to process his thoughts, because of the sleepiness and the fever. “If… anything, you can take some of my medication too if you’re not allergic or anything. Or you can go home. Or… Or even, feel free to sleep here. My bed is big enough for two.”

“Wait really?” Lemres asked out in surprise. However, it was a question lost in the air, as Ex had fallen asleep shortly after his last sentence. He quietly watched his sleeping friend as he thought about what he should do now. It was tempting to clean the entire room as a surprise for Ex when he wakes up, indeed. 

But at the same time, the bed was so comfortable. From sitting, Lemres adjusted his body to touch one of the extra pillows with a hand, then with his head. Everything was felt good. Something about Ex’s bed just made it perfect to lay down. Then again, it may be just Lemres’ illness and the fact he was tired after that cleaning, but it still worked like a charm.

Lemres just adjusted his posture in bed a little and fixed his hat before sighing relaxed and drifting into a peaceful sleep. 

\---

Sweet, how sweet. Everything Lemres laid his eyes upon was candy! It was like a wish he made to a medal come true: the rain in the pink sky tasted like sugar, the rocks were actually marshmallows or rock candy, the trees had candy canes instead of fruits. It was too good to be true. He had to take a bite of everything!

He picked up a rock marshmallow and held it closer to his mouth, taking a huge bite of it. As he tried to eat, however, he felt no taste! And worse, it seemed like the marshmallow just disappeared. Curious, a thought reaching him, he then pulled out a candy cane from a tree and tried to eat it, but the candy cane also disappeared. And when he poked his tongue out to attempt to feel the taste of sugar rain, it was nothing to taste, once again. 

“...Oh. Oh, it’s a dream.” Lemres sighed in disappointment, shaking his head. “I dream with stuff like that once a week, and I always fall for it.”

Lemres was very skilled with lucid dreaming. Even more, he was able to jump to other people’s dreams as well - which he once did with Schezo to protect Sig. Now that he knew he was dreaming, he manipulated the ‘world’ around him to make it less candy like. What’s the point of seeing candy around and being unable to eat it?

As the trees turned into green and the sweet rain disappeared, Lemres tried to remember what he was doing when he was awake. He was in Ex’s house, he recalled well, but somehow, he fell asleep. Although, considering that his sick awake body needed rest, he didn’t mind sleep for the time being. He wondered what he could do with his dream now. No, he wouldn’t explore Ex’s dreams. He usually respected people’s dream privacies, unless if it’s an emergency, like the Schezo case. 

Raising his head to the sky, Lemres created a pretty starry sky in his dream, along with a moon. He felt at peace by stargazing like that, even if those aren’t real stars. The good part about this sky, though, was that Lemres could create his own constellations! He imagined stars forming the shape of lollipops, cakes, puddings, donuts, all sorts of candy and desserts that he could recall right on the spot. He didn’t stop here, either. A fond smile appeared on his face as he started to make constellations based off people he cared about: Amitie, Klug, Feli, Ms Accord, Ex, even making a cranky Schezo to get a chuckle out of him.

“.....?” Lemres looked down, a sudden confusion reaching him, along with a very loud noise. He wasn’t making this noise, it was from outside his dream. It didn’t sound like Ex’s voice either, the noise sounded like rumbling? He thought of the possibility of Ex snoring in his sleep, but after hearing the sound again, he concluded it’s very far from a snore too. 

The third time the noise roared, Lemres felt really weird. If he was more lucid, he would be able to deduct that he is waking up. All he could see for a brief moment, however, was the starry sky fading away.

“..............................”

“..............A…Ah?”

Lemres tilted his head from his pillow, trying to process what happened. He could barely remember his dream, due to being woken up so abruptly. But he was sure he had heard something loud, he just didn’t knew what it was. The slight drowsiness he felt didn’t help much with trying to think rationally. 

“Did you hear that too?” Ex suddenly asked. Lemres quickly looked to his right, where Ex was sitting up, fully awake and alert. Lemres was so focused on waking up and figuring out what was the noise, he didn’t notice the other had woken up too. 

“Oh hey.” Lemres muttered, crawling to sit up next to Ex. He took the chance to look at his friend. Ex still seemed sick and tired, but the noise had really gotten him eerily serious. “Yeah, I heard it. Do ya know what was that?”

“A problem with a Dimension, I assume.” Ex responded, simply and gloomily. “Must have been an accident in the edge of time and space. I need to see what happened and fix it.”

“Wh… What? But you’re sick.” Lemres spoke up, sounding very worried. Shortly after he said that, he found himself aware of his runny nose and sniffed, feeling a bit frustrated at his own cold when he should focus at Ex’s. 

Ex just closed his eyes and sighed. “Lemres. The edge of time and space isn’t just gonna stop anything it does because the Keeper is unable to do his job. I just have to face it and fix it. That’s how it works.”

Silence. Lemres realized how heavy and intense Ex’s words were. He was willing to just ignore his feelings and his well being just for the sake of keeping Dimensions safe. It wasn’t a particularly healthy habit, but it was the best he could do to keep his sanity.

“I really need to find out what happened. It could cause an accident like the Puyo and Tetrimino thing, if not worse.” Ex turned his head and faced Lemres with sad eyes. “But I can’t do that alone now, I can barely stand up. Could you…. help me?”

“What?! What even could I do?” Lemres questioned in complete awe.

Ex hesitated a little, it was hard to tell if it was out of shame of speaking more or if it was the illness affecting his train of thought. “You just have to… uh, take me there. Somehow carry me.”

“Oh.” Was all Lemres could force himself to speak. Carrying Ex away was the last of his concerns, really; both of them could just fly away in Lemres’ broom. He felt trapped in a conundrum: Ex really needed rest to recover from his brutal cold, but if the Dimensions weren't fixed, it could be really dangerous for the people living in it, perhaps even for other worlds. It was either the safety of one person or of a ton of people’s. 

“...........I won’t like it, though.” Lemres whispered to himself as he got up to his feet, shaking his wand to make his trusty broom appear. 

Seemed like Ex didn’t heard him, however. All he did was get up himself, his legs trembling as he walked a bit over his room to grab a coat from his closet. It hurt Lemres to see him like that, it felt like it was hard for him to stand up like that, imagine when he would need to use his magic. Secretally, Lemres had a feeling that a reason why Ex was so sick was the exact fact he pushed his body past its limit to keep the Dimensions safe and sound. 

Even inside, the two of them sat on the broom and flew on it instead of walking outside and using the broom there, since Lemres didn’t wanted to risk Ex collapsing before he even walked out of the house. Lemres was sitting in the front part of the broom, while Ex sat behind him, holding on Lemres’ waist tightly as they began to fly away, exiting the house by a window.


	2. Chapter 2

Lemres recalled about the wind of before, it seemed stronger now. He feared that this wind was a possible cause of the accident in one of the Dimensions. Possible, because Ex still needed to confirm the existence of any potential damages around. They heard the noise of before again, so Lemres tried his best to follow it, quickly noticing that the wind blew in the same direction the sound had been heard. This couldn’t be a coincidence.

While they flew, following the blowing wind, Lemres could feel Ex resting his head against his back, near his shoulder, breathing heavily. Even with his coat, it wasn’t good for him to be outside in a windy weather like that. This only motivated the warlock to finish this as quickly as they could and take his friend home soon for extra rest.

The wind carried them to a purple stony path, a vortex showed slightly blurry images of a world. But a scary thing was that a couple of floating rocks were dangerously been blown by the wind as well. In a few more minutes, they would reach the vortex and fall into the world shown there. 

“So, what’s the plan?” Lemres asked, carefully pulling over his broom. The wind would blow them over the vortex if they kept flying, so they were forced to land. He had to hold Ex’s hand to give him support to stand up too, his other hand using magic to make the broom disappear.

Ex silently glanced around, the wind making his already messy bed hair even messier. He forced himself to focus, knowing that if he let his guard down and if his illness was stronger than his willpower, one Dimension would be in big trouble. “I think I can destroy the rocks with magic.” 

Taking a deep breath and positioning himself in front of the vortex to defend it, Ex rose up an arm and held two fingers up like a finger gun. While the magic wouldn’t be as strong like when he takes energy from Puyo or Tetris matches, it should be enough to get rid of those rocks. He yelled out “Speed up!” and a yellow ball of light came out from his hand, then shoot it into a rock. More balls of light came out shortly after the first one, all of them hitting different floating targets. All the rocks had been destroyed.

Lemres sighed and sniffed relieved. This had been fast, they could go home now. He noticed that Ex already seemed tired, plus his coat wasn’t really protecting him from the cold wind. Lemres didn’t even think twice. He approached Ex and surprised the Keeper by carefully placing his own green coat over his shoulders. 

“.....Thank you.” Ex muttered softly and properly adjusted the new coat on his body, putting his arms into it. He already felt a bit better, wearing two coats plus his usual white shirt protected him from the cold a lot more. He knew that Lemres wears a lot of clothes himself, so him feeling cold or getting sicker wasn’t going to be an issue.

Lemres was about to suggest for them to go home, when they heard the familiar noise again. But now they could see what this was: two rocks colliding on each other as the wind blew them up. More rocks were flying to their direction. Both of them knew that they couldn’t just keep destroying the rocks one by one with magic forever, they needed a better plan.

“If only there was a way to shield this world.“ Lemres hissed softly, a bigger pile of worry hitting him. 

Ex’s expression slowly changed from shock from seeing more rocks to seeming to be deep in thought. “Shield… Wait, I think I have an idea! We could make a wall to block the rocks in the way.”

“A wall?” Lemres repeated, holding his chin with a hand. “That’s not a bad idea, but we’d need a resistant material for this. What exactly are you thinkin’ o’?”

“What else? Tetriminos!” Ex revealed with a slight nod and a grin. 

Lemres smiled back, he didn’t needed to hear anything else. The two of them adjusted their positions in front of the vortex, giving plenty of space between them for two Tetris boards to appear. But for once, their goal was not to clear the blocks. Quite the opposite, they had to make the biggest wall they could, while without getting it to the top of the board. 

Despite the risk of the situation, none of them were rushing each other out. For starters, they still had some time before the rocks approached even more. And they both had enough hurrying in their inner thoughts as it is. One extra thing worried Lemres too. As focused on the blocks as he was, he noticed Ex wasn’t stacking them with his usual agility. More than likely, it was yet another effect of his cold. 

Lemres was just gonna be quiet about it, until Ex moved an ‘I’ block into a hole, clearing three lines with that. “Ex! We’re makin’ a wall, not clearin’ lines!” He yelled out with a hint of panic as the board rose with some Nuisance under his Tetriminos. Shortly after his scream, his scratchy throat caught him as he started to cough into a hand and struggled to not drop off a Tetrimino in a wrong spot by accident. 

Ex gasped loudly and shook his head. “I’m so sorry! I… I think I spaced out a little.” He whimpered, the hand used to point and hold the Tetriminos trembled in hesitation. He felt awful - not just for that mistake, but because of the fever that felt like a recurring pummeling into his head - but now he had to focus on the wall. 

Clearing his throat as the coughing fit eased down, Lemres felt a bit guilty from yelling before, even if it was out of Nuisance Puyo survival instinct. He sighed and just moved his hand and wand to place down a few Tetriminos in some holes to clear the board a little. They both had to endure playing a little more, so the blocky wall could reflect the rocks. 

It felt like years, but the rocks finally fell in, hitting the boards and the Tetriminos. As they had hoped for, the blocks were strong enough to stand in the way of the rocks. Even if a rock or two made a hole, it was too tiny to pose any danger. And finally, sometimes they cleared the lines just to get some Tetris magic to break even more rocks. Who says playing board games doesn’t fixes your problems?

Minutes passed as they kept playing and destroying rocks. The wind finally calmed down. It was now just a slight breeze, which would eventually wear off as well. Ex allowed himself to lose the Tetris game, with a pile of Tetriminos stacking in a column. 

“Phew….” Ex panted, taking a look over the remains of the rocks, fallen all over the ground. “We… did it. Lemres. Thank you… so much.”

“Hehe, you’re~ welcome~!” Lemres beamed, approaching Ex to give him a pat on the back. He did find a bit concerning that Ex seemed so out of breath. He was about to suggest for them to go back home to rest….

…..When Ex’s body gave in and the Keeper collapsed on the floor. Lemres rushed to grab him, at least to protect his head from hitting the ground. Worried, holding Ex against his chest as he was kneeling down, Lemres did a quick check up. Ex’s fever was strong again and he seemed to be close to passing out. Shoot, he didn’t take his medicine before leaving, did he?

The comet warlock didn’t waste any time to summon his broom again to take them home. 

\---

If worry hurt, it would be more painful than all the Nuisance Puyo in the world.

It had been almost two hours since the rocks incident. Lemres managed to carry Ex home and place him in his bed, but he couldn’t give any medicine right away, as the Keeper had passed out in the way. The time he spent sitting on the bed, waiting for his friend to wake up felt like an eternity. When Ex finally woke up, however, the worry increased. He claimed to be too tired for anything, including eating - despite the fact it had been a while he had eaten too. Lemres had to insist and beg for Ex to accept to take his medication before going back to sleep. 

Lemres found himself in the couch in the living room, melting down from exhaustion, illness and worry. He tried to distract himself by cooking some small desserts or even trying to play some solo Puyo, but nothing worked. Leaving the edge of time and space and going home was surely not an option either. He feared that Ex was too ill to be left alone. And if he was alone, he would force himself to do things on his own, which would make it even worse. Lemres didn’t even wanted to imagine what would happen to Ex if he pushed himself even further like that.

However, there wasn’t anything else he could go now. How he wished he had healing magic now. But no, only candy magic. Candies can make somebody happy, even if for a temporary while, but they can’t cure some things. They can’t fix your deepest emotional problems or an illness. He knew it. The candy didn’t cure his own cold after all. His cold… his nose was still runny, but he barely paid attention to it until it was unbearable. He even didn’t wanted to care about his slightly raspy throat. Perhaps being sick himself is another reason for his tired state. 

Lemres didn’t even notice when he started to fall asleep on the couch. In one moment, he grabbed a pillow shaped like a Puyo from the couch and buried his head into it. The next moment, he didn’t feel anything at all.

Nothing. No worry, no pain, no sadness. It was all empty.

“................”

“....hu…..huh. Oh.”

Lemres stood still, feeling his body numb. He knew right away he was dreaming, somehow. The dream was just an empty place with pastel colors. It almost reminded him of candy, maybe that was how he knew he wasn’t awake. Even his dream felt heavy and sad to a point where part of him wanted to force himself to wake up. Both in case Ex needed something and because he didn’t wanted to deal with his own emotions. 

But just the thought made Lemres’ dream body feel heavier, almost falling down. Falling, as if there was even a floor that would save him from the void. He hissed, a hand reaching for his messy hair. One would expect that dreaming, especially lucid dreaming, would be much more peaceful as opposed to the real world. And yet, it was like the dream was worse than the real life. At least in real life, he could ignore his feelings with candy.

“No... No. Enough o’ that.” Lemres whispered, holding a fist next to his chest. “If I’m gonna be asleep, then it better be worth it!” 

He felt his dream and his body tremble strongly with each word. Good, at least he was a bit more alert now. What would he want in his dreams now? The exact moment he asked himself this, the dream started to change shapes. It went from tones of pastel pink and yellow to a simple white. And cold. Lemres quickly recognized the change: he was now in a snowing place.

Lemres liked all seasons, but there was something comforting about winter. It was the Christmasy feeling, the will to want to cuddle with friends and protect each other against the cold, the joy of drinking hot chocolate while waiting for a cake to finish baking or for the snow to stop falling to go outside. 

But one interesting thing: in middle of the snowy place, it was a house. Ex’s house. Now this dream was being silly, it doesn’t snows in the edge of time and space. Sure, once it has hailed before because of a magical accident but actual winter snow? Never. 

Curious, Lemres approached the house. He wanted to look or get inside, but somehow, he just couldn’t. There was no windows and the door simply refused to open. He held his chin and frowned. What was the deal with this dream? He felt like he had some control, since he still is lucid dreaming, but at the same time, it was his mind and subconscious wanted to play around too. 

“Wait.. ya have never seen snow?!” A voice asked from inside the house. And shockingly, it was Lemres’ own voice. It was like there was another Lemres inside that place. Huh.

“I mean…. it doesn’t snows in the Constellation Zone. Nor in the edge of spacetime. I don’t see how I could ever see snow, Lemres.” Another voice replied. And this was Ex.

Lemres quickly realized something. This isn’t just a dream. It’s a memory. This was one of the first solo visits he had to Ex’s house. Previously, he only visiting to accompany Amitie, Arle and Ringo for all sorts of reasons. But during those times, he and Ex ended up getting along very well, so he started to visit his new friend by himself. 

“I see. That’s still a bummer though. I would love to show ya snow someday!” The memory Lemres added, chuckling.

“Only if you bring me snow from Primp Town. And you know, snow melts.” Ex started to chuckle himself. 

“Oh, I can bring ice cream instead! Vanilla flavor, to remind ya of snow.”

“Ice cream also melts, though. But thank you for the consideration.” 

“Then I will bring you a lo~lli~pop~! Not because o’ snow, I just like givin’ candy away. Oh! And maybe some cake, and puddin’, donuts, cupcakes, panca-”

Ex interrupted. Lemres remembered that Ex gently slapped the tip of his hat to get his attention that time. “Lemres. This is not a picnic. Although a picnic would be fun too. If...”

Short silence. The actual Lemres sighed. He remembered that moment very well. “If what?”

“Nothing.”

“No, now I’m curious. Finish that sentence~”

He remembered Ex looked away from him, his face eyeing the floor sadly. “.............If you remember to do so.”

The Lemres inside the house hesitated, while the real Lemres turned around and rested his back against a wall, looking down in thought. “R… Remember?” 

Ex sighed. “.....That’s how it is. People don’t remember me. It’s another joy of being the Keeper of Dimensions. Not even my own daughter remembers me. I don’t blame you if you forget me too.”

Long silence. It was just as bittersweet as Lemres remembered it. He felt a bit tears escape from his eyes as he recalled what he had said next. In union, the dream Lemres said the words that were echoing in his mind.

“I will never forget you, ever. The edge o’ spacetime will need to do worse on me to make me forget about you, a dear friend. That’s a promise, Ex.”

Lemres could barely hear the voices anymore, but he could still remember that day. This was the day when he started to feel like he could deeply trust Ex. And he hoped, the feeling was mutual. Just thinking about that made him feel warm.

Warm…. everything felt warm, even though it’s still snowing. How strange dreams can be. All he could feel was the warm, comforting feeling, which was really refreshing from how bad he felt before. He felt his consciousness slowly slipping away, was he waking up? It was hard to tell.

The first thing Lemres saw after the dream was over was darkness, soft and dark. He needed a few seconds to remember that he had fallen asleep with his face on a pillow. As he become more aware of his surroundings, he noticed that there was something gently patting his hair and he didn’t felt his hat on his head anymore. He had a feeling of what had happened in his sleep, though.

Slowly, he raised his head off the pillow and ran a hand over his eyes, with a yawn escaping. After he got used to the light of the living room again, his suspicion was confirmed when he saw Ex sitting on the couch, being the one patting his head - and who removed his hat too, Lemres assumed. 

“M… Mh..?” Lemres muttered, still feeling really drowsy. The hair petting was making him feel extra sleepy too. “What are you.... doin’? Why aren’t you in bed?”

“I feel a bit better.” Ex responded, a gentle smile on his face. He didn’t looked so tired anymore and from the faint smell, it seemed like he had taken a shower recently. Seems like his health is really improving. “I was asleep for hours, and I woke up feeling really hungry. I thought you had gone home so I went to get food myself, but after I ate and took a quick shower, I saw you sleeping here. I gotta ask… Are you doing okay? You were sobbing in your sleep.”

Lemres flinched and blushed a bit; he could remember his dream this time, at least until everything started to drift away in a fuzzy warm feeling. Was it embarrassing to admit you were crying because you dreamed about how much you care for a person? “I’m okay. I had a... happy dream actually. Don’t mind me.”

“Oh? Is that so?” Ex felt really relieved. Now that he was recovering, he seemed to be claiming over his role of a father figure again. “It’s okay if you don’t wanna tell, though. I just wanted to be sure you’re okay. Also…”

Ex finally stopped caressing Lemres’ hair and rested his hand on the warlock’s back. “Thank you for everything, Lemres. I don’t think I can ever repay you for dealing with me like that. You’re more than allowed to go home now.”

The Keeper barely ended his sentence, Lemres got up and knelt down on the couch to raise a hand and shake a negative finger. “Whoa whoa whoa. Who’s sayin’ I had to ‘deal with you’ like if that was a sacrifice? No, that was a honor. I would go to the depths o’ the universe to get the best kind o’ sugar for the people I care about and you are one of them, Ex.”

Short silence, Lemres grabbed his hat to put it back on his head and adjusted himself to sit on the couch, while grabbing another pillow, shaped like a Tetrimino, for emotional support. “I’m on break from school, so don’t worry. I can stay a bit more if I want. ‘N I do want! Now we actually have a chance to hang out, I don’t want to miss it. Unless…. You don’t want to, which is fine too.”

More silence, both of them looking at each other and processing what was happening. But then, Ex smiled and got up to his feet, stretching out an arm for Lemres. “You did promise you would teach me how to make a special apple pie once. That’s your chance.”

Lemres reciprocated the smile, but instead of hold Ex’s hand, he bounced to his feet and pulled the Keeper into a hug. A hug that was returned and felt just as warm and comforting as the end of his last dream. While it was tempting to stay like that forever, Lemres was excited for the possibility of showing Ex some of his special dessert recipes. “.....Why just make pies, though? I can show ya how to make Puyo~ cup~cakes~!” 

Ex chuckled and allowed Lemres to let go of the hug and grab his wrist to take him to the kitchen, where they would spend the rest of the day trying out all sorts of dessert recipes. Sure, with some occasional breaks to take cold medicine or to rest up a little. But overall, they both could feel that this visit was going to be much happier now.


End file.
